Title: Son of My Heart

Author: Sue De Nimme aka Rowan

Summary: Bilbo contemplates his adopted heir.

Disclaimer: No copyrights were harmed in the making of this fanfic.

Note: This is a double drabble, for Shirebound, as her prize for answering my trivia question (and the bonus one as well, hence the length). She wanted something in which Frodo is loved, admired, and/or respected; and the Bilbo-Frodo relationship seems to be my favorite one to write about, so this is what came out.

~

When did it happen?

When did what had started as an arrangement born of pure pragmatism -- and desperation -- turn into the best decision I had ever made in my life? When did I first look into those wide, yearning eyes and feel something more than simply a surge of satisfaction at having trumped that pair of sour-faced vultures who call themselves my kin?

Of course, I would not have done what I did if I did not believe that I could eventually come to feel for him as a father should. Even though he was exactly what I needed at the time that I needed it, still I would have dismissed the whole idea otherwise.

But now I see him, Frodo, as he is. I see eager curiosity and a loving spirit. I see, though he doesn't, the way he has of inspiring devotion in the hearts of those few who can perceive his light. I see his uncertainty and his fears and his foolishness. I see his patience and his kindness and his strength.

Is this what all fathers feel, this helpless, fierce love that takes away my breath and almost frightens me with its intensity?

I do not know.

But I do know that come what may, I have found in him the son of my heart.

~the end~